1. Sharing the credit . . . when the other person did absolutely nothing.

2. Not sharing the credit . . . when others helped you, even if the help was somewhat minor.

The questions:

How would you handle each of these situations?

Would you feel the need to publicly make corrections to the credits? How would you go about doing this?

Or would you do the laid back thing and not say a word?

The backgrounds:

1. Yesterday I found out that a cover of "my " magazine has won a Gold rating in competition. There is no prize involved, just a certificate and a prestigious something that I can add to my resume. Plus acknowledgement that gets sent out to the general (company)public.

I am quite proud of that particular cover. I had a conversation with UberBigBoss where she explained what she was looking for. There was major research and Photoshopping work done along with follow up convo's with UBB.

Boss had absolutely nothing to do with the conversations/design/work involved. Once I finished the project, as always, I sent a .pdf to Boss for final approval before sending it to UBB. Boss' only comment/involvement was "Very nice job. Yes. Please send to UBB."

Editor sent me and Boss a notice saying "You both did a wonderful job and Congratulations!"

I'm a bit irked by this. But in the grand scheme of things, it's really no big deal. So I'll probably do the laid back thing and not say a word.

What would you do?

2. I'm working on posters/banners/invites/menus, etc. for an Awards banquet that's coming up next week. Unlike the above, this is an inter-company award and recipients for this award are widely recognized and applauded throughout the company. There is an actual "gift" plus the banquet.

Usually the awards go to a team. In all my years of working behind the scenes for this banquet it's been extremely rare that an award went to one person only.

During discussions with Boss concerning the banquet project, Boss mentioned that she was receiving one of the awards.

I said "Congratulations! Good for you! What is the award for?" Boss replied "Oh, the Corporate-wideXXX symposium."

Yes. I remember that project. Granted, Boss did probably 80% of the finished project on her own, but the three of us underlings also did quite a bit of work on that project as well . . . what I call "grunt work."

In situation #1, there's no way saying your boss didn't do anything would come out well for you. And really, you're not "losing" anything in not correcting them. Be gad someone recognized your work -- that's awesome!

In situation #2, it sounds like your boss did the majority of the planning and design work, and three of the people she supervised helped out under her direction. You mention that you did the grunt work, not the innovation or design of the system. I wouldn't expect you to be the award winner in this case. At an award ceremony, it might be nice for boss to say "Thanks to X, Y, and Z employees for your work in setting up the system with me" but in this situation, it sounds like you were just doing your job and not responsible for the entire finished product.

I can't see how it would do you any favours in either case. It's frustrating to have a boss you don't like, but trying to make sure she doesn't get credit for work is only going to bite you in the long run.

In situation #1, there's no way saying your boss didn't do anything would come out well for you. And really, you're not "losing" anything in not correcting them. Be gad someone recognized your work -- that's awesome!

In situation #2, it sounds like your boss did the majority of the planning and design work, and three of the people she supervised helped out under her direction. You mention that you did the grunt work, not the innovation or design of the system. I wouldn't expect you to be the award winner in this case. At an award ceremony, it might be nice for boss to say "Thanks to X, Y, and Z employees for your work in setting up the system with me" but in this situation, it sounds like you were just doing your job and not responsible for the entire finished product.

I can't see how it would do you any favours in either case. It's frustrating to have a boss you don't like, but trying to make sure she doesn't get credit for work is only going to bite you in the long run.

POD although in the second situation I know where you're coming from. we call my director Clueless because, well, he is. We used to have these big interdepartmental meetings, for all the groups that reported to HIS boss. Where each director would get up, discuss what their group was doing, and so on. Not once, not twice, but three times, he would also thank my boss, and my bosses' boss for all their hard work, and say nothing about me. A couple of times he apologized after, and if it was a one time thing, ok, I could let it slide. But three times? It really made me think he didn't have a clue, or care what I did. He still doesn't have a clue.

POD although in the second situation I know where you're coming from. we call my director Clueless because, well, he is. We used to have these big interdepartmental meetings, for all the groups that reported to HIS boss. Where each director would get up, discuss what their group was doing, and so on. Not once, not twice, but three times, he would also thank my boss, and my bosses' boss for all their hard work, and say nothing about me. A couple of times he apologized after, and if it was a one time thing, ok, I could let it slide. But three times? It really made me think he didn't have a clue, or care what I did. He still doesn't have a clue.

Yes, that's a very good point. Making sure to acknowledge the contributions of the employees "beneath" you can definitely make or break morale.

POD although in the second situation I know where you're coming from. we call my director Clueless because, well, he is. We used to have these big interdepartmental meetings, for all the groups that reported to HIS boss. Where each director would get up, discuss what their group was doing, and so on. Not once, not twice, but three times, he would also thank my boss, and my bosses' boss for all their hard work, and say nothing about me. A couple of times he apologized after, and if it was a one time thing, ok, I could let it slide. But three times? It really made me think he didn't have a clue, or care what I did. He still doesn't have a clue.

Yes, that's a very good point. Making sure to acknowledge the contributions of the employees "beneath" you can definitely make or break morale.

Yup, although I know that's how he is, and it really just makes me mad. Part of my job is to hunt down documents and so on. Sometimes he gets them before I can find them, and will send them to my boss and my bosses' boss. Who then have to forward them on to me so I can do what I need to wiht them. he just doens't think.

In situation #2, it sounds like your boss did the majority of the planning and design work, and three of the people she supervised helped out under her direction. You mention that you did the grunt work, not the innovation or design of the system. I wouldn't expect you to be the award winner in this case. At an award ceremony, it might be nice for boss to say "Thanks to X, Y, and Z employees for your work in setting up the system with me" but in this situation, it sounds like you were just doing your job and not responsible for the entire finished product.

I disagree with the bold. Maybe my terminology of "grunt work" was misinterpreted.

Grunt work, to me, is just as important to completing a project as the initial design is.

Grunt work is the support mechanism. Finding just the right photo, gathering/interpreting information, adding text (so the designer doesn't have to type) into the program . . . basically doing all of the tedious stuff so that the designer has more time to work on the actual design.

Way too many times I've wished that I had a grunt-worker so that all the pieces could be put in front of me and I can concentrate on the actual design of a project. Personally? I would strongly acknowledge anybody that did the grunt work for for me, because it's the grunt-workers that make my job easier.

Granted, Boss did about 80% of the entire workload (initial design, so many meetings, actual layout, etc.) but, without 3 grunt-workers beneath her, it would have taken her twice as long to complete the job if she had to do it all by herself. Does that make sense?

I know the percentages don't add up (not quite sure how to do the actual math) and I am giving Boss credit. She did a wonderful job and deserves the acknowledgement.

However, I honestly believe that us grunt-workers, as a team effort, should have been in on the award.

For #1, sadly, it's par for the course and there is very little that you can do about it. This is especially true when the credit-stealer is a boss. I've had to put people on patent applications whose only contribution was to sign my time card.

Logged

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

Think about Oscar winning producers and directors. There must be so much support for them that makes the movie happen, but they get all the credit. If they are thoughtful, they thank the crew in their speeches, but they get the ultimate credit. It is the nature of being "the boss".

In situation #2, it sounds like your boss did the majority of the planning and design work, and three of the people she supervised helped out under her direction. You mention that you did the grunt work, not the innovation or design of the system. I wouldn't expect you to be the award winner in this case. At an award ceremony, it might be nice for boss to say "Thanks to X, Y, and Z employees for your work in setting up the system with me" but in this situation, it sounds like you were just doing your job and not responsible for the entire finished product.

I disagree with the bold. Maybe my terminology of "grunt work" was misinterpreted.

Grunt work, to me, is just as important to completing a project as the initial design is.

Grunt work is the support mechanism. Finding just the right photo, gathering/interpreting information, adding text (so the designer doesn't have to type) into the program . . . basically doing all of the tedious stuff so that the designer has more time to work on the actual design.

Way too many times I've wished that I had a grunt-worker so that all the pieces could be put in front of me and I can concentrate on the actual design of a project. Personally? I would strongly acknowledge anybody that did the grunt work for for me, because it's the grunt-workers that make my job easier.

Granted, Boss did about 80% of the entire workload (initial design, so many meetings, actual layout, etc.) but, without 3 grunt-workers beneath her, it would have taken her twice as long to complete the job if she had to do it all by herself. Does that make sense?

I know the percentages don't add up (not quite sure how to do the actual math) and I am giving Boss credit. She did a wonderful job and deserves the acknowledgement.

However, I honestly believe that us grunt-workers, as a team effort, should have been in on the award.

#2 bothers me more than #1.

It's funny as this could be applied across the board in so many positions. A paralegal for a lawyer. Paralegal does all the legwork, investigations etc. And yet the lawyer gets all the credit for winning the case. A nurse and the surgeon. The nurse ensures the tools are there, room is set up etc. Hands all the tools over, assists as needed etc. The surgeon gets credit for saving the patient's life.

In other words behind a higher up, there are people that help them get there. They know this when they were hired, they get paid to do the very item etc. If you are that bothered as you said you are, sounds like you are in the wrong job.

For situation #1, saying anything just reflects badly on you. If your boss is classy, (s)he will demur and say that all the credit should go to you.

For situation #2, the most you can do is an offhand comment. "Congratulations! I remember that project. I'm glad to see all your hard work recognized." Hopefully your boss acknowledge your contribution in some way (positive comment on your review, team lunch, etc.)

Think about Oscar winning producers and directors. There must be so much support for them that makes the movie happen, but they get all the credit. If they are thoughtful, they thank the crew in their speeches, but they get the ultimate credit. It is the nature of being "the boss".